FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) radars are systems that transmit a continuous wave, which modulates a periodic function such as a sine wave or saw-tooth waveform. The main constituent of a FMCW radar is the chirp signal or waveform. A chirp signal is a signal whose frequency increases or decreases with time. The chirp signal has to be extremely linear in order to avoid phase distortion effects seen at the receiver of the radar.
The radars have a loop filter in their local oscillator (LO) subsystems that is optimized for continuous wave phase noise, but may not be optimal for a dynamic phase noise. Dynamic phase noise is the term used to refer to the phase noise that is associated with a chirp signal that is being transmitted over a certain bandwidth. The measurements of frequency linearity and dynamic phase noise are important in FMCW radars because they determine the purity of the waveform of the chirp signal transmitted by the radars.
The current solution involves the use of test equipment to measure the frequency linearity and phase noise. However, most test equipment is expensive and time consuming to use. The more affordable test equipment typically does not have the bandwidth to measure the frequency linearity and/or they do not have the capability to operate on a wider chirp signal bandwidth to measure dynamic phase noise.